With Rift going free to play...Follow

Are FFXI, WoW and FFXIV the ONLY sub based MMOs left now?

I have a friend who recently took a forced break of EVE as of a few months ago. As of them you could pay with real life money or in-game money, so I guess that could still be considered sub-based.

Did Everquest 1/2 go free to play?

Source? I don't see anywhere that EQ1 is dead or even in the F2P stage.

Edit: Okay, seems that both EQ are free-to-play.

Edited, May 27th 2013 9:44am by UltKnightGrover

https://www.everquest.com/free

Definitely has gone free to play.

Most games will become F2P from the get go now, there's simply too many out there to go the P2P route. When EQ, XI, WoW came out, they were on their own for the most part, so they could charge people for monthly fees without any issues. Now, just off the top of my head there's what, Tera, EQ, EQII, EVE, XI, WoW, XIV (soon), LotRO, GW2, GW1, RO, ROII, SWtOR, AoC, Aion and I'm sure there's a ton more if I just google an MMO list. That's 15 MMO's, in a genre that's popular, but not overly popular. It's simply too many games with not enough people to go around, so you have to make F2P to even try to get people interested.

Honestly, of all your co-workers, friends, etc, how many do you know that actually play MMO's? Friends, sure I have a couple, but co-workers? A ton play video games, not a one plays MMOs, and they sure as hell don't understand why I do. By friends, I mean real life friends here, not the ones you've met on XI who have become RL friends with.

I get that P2P is the way to go for those of us who were around for the start of these games, I know Catwho, Wint, Thayos etc feel strongly about that and why wouldn't we? It's led to games with great communities that have kept us busy for years. Though, I do think eventually the model will die and be revamped into something else along the lines of what Catwho had mentioned in another thread. The companies have to do something else, cause I still have yet to stick to a F2P MMO (and I've tried several). I simply can't wrap my head around paying for in game items, seeing ads in game, paying a monthly fee but still having to pay for certain other things, it makes no sense!

I do hope XIV sticks with the p2p model, I haven't stuck to an MMO since XI and really want something to play on a consistent basis again. We'll see what happens though, all depends on what kind of population SE is happy with.

well with only 5 games p2p out of the hundreds of MMOs out there now whats the likelyhood of FFXIV being successful soley based on that fact? at least the other games on that list are old and already had its community and launch before the F2P craze.. but i think starting a p2p game in this day and age is just suicide... lets hope Im wrong

Yea i saw that list before but i seriously can't understand which are free to play buy to play and pay to play.

Well let me ask you a different question...

Based solely on that fact, what are the odds of FFXIV's development team wearing blue pants?

Basing a success and failure determination on a single piece of information taken in a vacuum is a pointless exercise because nothing ever works like that.

Based on a measurement of subscribers, FFXI has been failing quite successfully for nearly 11 years. Is it because the game has a subscription fee?

It's a good thing it won't be solely based on that fact then, huh? I agree if you look at it like that, considering ONLY the number of F2P vs. P2P, the likelihood of success is low. Thankfully, there are a lot of other factors at play. Only time will tell what happens.

Well the point Im making is this...

everyone claims FFXIV is taking teh casual WoW style approach because the EQ style of gameplay that FFXI took is "old" and "outdated" and wouldnt get as many ppl plying if it wasnt casual and "fast paced" (read instant gratification with little to no struggle), like WoW.

Ok now if THAT is supposedly true then from the looks of MMOs in teh last 3-5 year P2P is old and outdated too, the new thing is F2P and thus P2P wouldnt get as many subscribers or ppl interested as they would if they were F2P, so using that logic why get rid of one "outdated" style but keep another if your whole reason for changing the style in the first place was to get as many ppl coming in as possible, surely F2P (or B2P) would draw in an even bigger crowd that P2P right?

FFXIV, or a FFXI release today, does not necessarily have to contend with this mythical instant-gratification playerbase that people like to blame for the current state of MMOs. What a FF MMO today has to contend with is low faith in the brand after XI was poorly managed (pretty much always), XII and XIII had very mixed critical receptions, and of course now, FFXIV has bombed. Final Fantasy used to be able to ride its own hype train, and now people are skeptical whether they can even make a good game.

youre absolutely right.. thing is ppl this gen have the mentality of "why should i have to pay to play i game i already bought and own" so even if EVE came out today and was the BEST game ever created no one would give it a chance to find out for themselves just how good it is because they think its "stupid" to have to pay to play something they already bought once and own

You might have made that same argument about Everquest or FFXI back when they launched. "Why should I keep paying for a game I already bought" is a question I'd have expected to hear when MMOs were a brand new thing. I think people know what an MMO is now, and they know what a subscription service is. The question ACTUALLY boils down to "is this worth paying a subscription for?"

That's a completely different question, and an entirely legitimate one. But it's not a question that can be answered until the game actually launches and people have a chance to play it.

The question of whether people will play the game doesn't depend on whether it's subscription or cash-shop supported. It has everything to do with whether or not the game is worth playing.

Edited, May 27th 2013 3:01pm by Callinon